Under the Spell
by Usami
Summary: After an assignment goes wrong, something happens to Starfire, and Robin will do whatever it takes to save her. But will he save her in time?
1. Prologue

Hey everyone!! Thanks to all who reviewed "A Memory Away." But just so you know, I'm not continuing it. Instead, I've decided to write another _Teen Titans story. Enjoy!_

Don't own _Teen Titans. Never have, never will._

**Under the Spell**

            Starfire giggled slightly as the breeze tickled her face. Picking a flower from the ground, she blew on it, and watched as little white tufts flew with the wind. She giggled again, watching them fly away. "What a strange flower," she said to herself. 

            "It's a dandelion," a voice said from behind her. Turning her head slightly, her smile widened as Robin sat down next to her in the grass. "What are you doing?"

            "Playing with the flowers. What did you say this one was called?"

            "A dandelion." Picking one out of the ground, he blew it, then pointed to the white tufts flying away in the wind. "Those are dandelion seeds. That's how they spread and grow."

            She smiled, watching as the seeds blew away. When they were gone, she looked over at the other. "How did you know that I was here?"

            He shrugged, leaning back and staring up at the blue sky. "Just a hunch, I guess."

            The teen boy, since he was looking up, didn't notice as the alien girl next to him blushed slightly. "You always seem to know where I am, Robin."

            "All hunches, I suppose."

            She smiled, sitting up from her lying position. 'Robin always seems to know where I am,' she thought. 'But they cannot be all hunches, can they? So how would he know?' Another blush formed on her cheeks as she thought over possible reasons. 'Though I doubt he feels that way for _me_, no matter how much I would like him to.' 

            She watched as he continued to stare up at the sky, smiling softly to herself. 'He is so very nice to me, and he has made me feel at home here on Earth, even since I am not even from here.'

            Because of the mask covering Robin's eyes, Starfire wasn't able to see that he was looking at her, even though his face was turned toward the sky. "Something wrong, Star?"

            She blinked. "No. There is nothing wrong at all. Why would you think so?"

            He looked at her, tilting his head to the side slightly. "Well, you're kind of staring at me, and you're cheeks are kind of red."

            The alien girl gasped, quickly averting her gaze on the ground. 'He caught me looking at him!' she thought with embarrassment as more of her blood covered painted her cheeks. 'Starfire, you are so foolish!'

            He blinked slightly, tilting his head to the side slightly. "Hey, Star, are you okay?"

            She nodded, not looking at his as she tucked some of her crimson hair behind her ear. "Yes, I am fine."

            He sat up. "Are you sure?"

            Her emerald eyes looked up, looking at him shyly, before looking down at her hands. "Have you.....ever felt....."

            "Have I ever what?"

            Before she could reply, both she and Robin looked up as Cyborg was making his way over, a serious look on his face. Robin got to his feet. "What's wrong?" he asked their friend.

            "You wanna know what's wrong?" the half-android asked. "There's a situation down at the museum. On our day off! Of all the outta time, buncha.....!"

            Robin shook his head slightly. "Where's Raven and Beast Boy?"

            "Raven's over there meditating, and I'm pretty sure Beast Boy is trying to bug her."

            "Better go get them, and we'll head over to the museum."

            "But it's our day off, man!" 

            Robin looked at him, his arms folded over his chest.

            "Alright, I'll get them." He grumbled as he walked away. 

            Shaking his head again, he turned to Starfire, who was still sitting on the ground. "I'm sorry. What did you want to say?"

            She shook her head. "It was not important. We should get to the museum."

            Nodding, he offered his hand out to her, which she smiled as she accepted his help to get to her feet.

            "Come on," he said, "we'd better get going."

            She nodded, following after him. 'Perhaps I'll tell him another day,' she thought a little sadly to herself.

_TBC_


	2. Chapter 1

Hey all! Here's the next chapter of "Under the Spell"!! Just because so many people reviewed!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!! ^_^

**Disclaimer:** Don't own _Teen Titans_. Never have, never will. 

            Normally, a robbing at the museum was a rather risky move. Only more so, since the police were crawling around everywhere. However, they were distracted by a situation on one of the lower levels of the building, far away from the objective. Precisely as planned.

            Because of the need of extra guards, all the ones standing watch over a certain exhibit were gone, leaving the priceless treasure unprotected. True, the alarm system might have proved to be an obstacle……….if it was on.

            More guards ran by, yelling to each other to get to the lower level. After they had passed, a mysterious figure dropped from the ceiling, landing in front of the holding case for a strange red jewel. As soon as he landed, the jewel began to glow softly. 

            His eyes were fixed on the treasure, even as he carefully cut the glass that separated him from his prize. He cut the glass into a diamond piece, so when he pushed one of the ends of it, it wouldn't fall out completely. Carefully, he pulled the piece of glass out, sticking in his free hand and taking hold of the jewel. As he did so, it began to glow more vibrantly. 

            The secretive man slowly pulled his hand that was enclosed around the seemingly perfect gem. When fully removed from its holding case, he opened his hand, the radiance from the crystal reflected in his eyes. 

            A test. He needed to test the flawless ruby rock he held. If he succeeded, then all the time he spent working…all the countless hours researching…would have proved to their use after all.

            Enclosing his fingers around the gem, he placed the diamond-shaped glass on the ground. Focusing on it, he watched as it began to lift off, hovering in mid-air, until it was eye level with him. 

            It was perfect. Everything that he had worked for…all his plans and hopes, desires and wishes…would be filled in this one little stone. It almost seemed too good to be true. 

            And that was when a thought occurred to him. What if it _was too good to be true? Granted, this precious stone had fulfilled one of the tasks so rumored to the wielder of it, but how could he be sure it would continue to live up to the name it has been given?_

            He could only be certain through another test. After all, his education and many years in his field of science has taught him that all things must first be tested before taken for true word.

            But to what shall he test on? There was always the possibility of those he had sworn revenge on so long ago, after their cruel ridicule of his ideas. Claiming that his theories were truly absurd, and too romantic. They stated that he had put too much hope into his research, not enough thought or reason. They believed it would never work, and that he was just wasting his time. He vowed to someday prove them wrong, and that his hypothesis _was_ indeed correct. 

            The gem, he believed, was the key to the answers that he had been searching for, and he knew that if they witnessed its great power, that would prove to them once and for all that he everything he had said was accurate after all.

            But, in the slight chance the stone was not in truth as it had been so imagined, he would only succeed in enhancing his reputation of absurdity, and those who had so scorned him before would only have more right to do so. He needed proper test subjects to use the crystal on before unleashing its power on those he sought vengeance on.

            Hearing voices, he stepped back into the shadows, as two guards walked down the hall. Both, totally oblivious to the fact that something was missing in the room they passed by, continued to talk amongst each other. At one point, this unknown man heard one mention 'the Teen Titans.' 

            He had heard about the Teen Titans before. They were in the media quite often, and were quite famously called a young Justice League. A group of crime-fighting superheroes, stopping evil in its tracks to ensure righteousness and truth in common city streets.

            He smirked slightly. They will do.

_TBC_

Is anyone still there? *looks at empty chairs* Hope this wasn't too boring (actually, I hope it wasn't boring at all)………Ya see, I kind of wanted a little more depth to the villain, since he's going to be a major part of the story. I didn't want to just stick him in all of a suddenly, all mysterious like that. I kind of wanted to put a little more about him without giving too much away………*hears crickets in the background* ^_^;;; Well, to all who's left, please review!!! *hopes to still have some readers after this chapter*


	3. Chapter 2

Tada! Finally, the next chapter! Sorry it took so long, what with the evil prison (coughcoughschoolcoughcough) and all. Anyway, hope you all enjoy this!

* * *

"Man," Beastboy complained as he entered the room, "talk about a waste of time!" 

"I know!" Cyborg agreed as he followed after the changeling. "I mean, they hadn't even stolen anything by the time we got there!"

Raven followed in behind the two and Starfire entered behind the other girl. Looking around, she noticed someone was missing. "Where is Robin?" she asked aloud.

"I'm right here, Star," a voice said behind her.

Turning around, she was glad to see him, but her smile faded slightly when she noticed the thoughtful expression on his face. "Anything wrong?" she asked.

Thinking for a moment, he replied, "I don't know…that whole robbery seemed a bit too simple…"

"Well, at least it was easy to stop," Beastboy said as he and Cyborg played video games.

"Yeah," the teen machine said. "It gives us a chance to enjoy the rest of our day off…"

Robin placed a hand to his chin. "I don't know…it seemed a little _too_ easy…"

But the other two boys didn't seem to pay attention as they tried to kill each other in the video games.

Raven rolled her eyes before turning to Robin. "What do you make of it?"

"Don't know…it was almost like a distraction…those guys didn't really seem to know what they were doing…they didn't seem the type to plan a robbery…"

"Do you think somebody else planned it?" Starfire asked.

"No kidding…" Raven replied. "But the questions is who…"

"Maybe something was stolen…" Robin said thoughtfully. "While we were handling the lower level, something might have been stolen from the upper section." He thought for a moment, then looked at Raven. "What did the owner of the museum say he was afraid of losing?"

"Some gem from Egypt," she replied. "It was some kind of mind powers…"

Robin thought for a moment. "Maybe we should…" He was cut off by the sound of his communicator.

"Aw man, not again!" Beastboy said.

Looking at the device, the leader said, "There's a situation at the bank…"

Raven sighed slightly. "Can't there be one day when people don't need our help?"

"Yeah! Besides, I was just about to beat Cyborg!"

Cyborg scoffed slightly as he turned the game off. "In your dreams, little man."

"Sorry guys. C'mon, let's go!"

* * *

"Don't you know it's not nice to take things that don't belong to you?"

The man stopped what he was doing, turning to look behind him and, seeing the Teen Titans, he smirked slightly.

"Now now, " he said, almost kindly. "How can I be taking something if these people are just _giving_ me the money?"

And the teens watched as the woman behind the desk handed him the bag of money, smiling the whole time.

"Dude," Beastboy whispered to the leader, "I thought you said there was a situation here…"

"I did…" Robin replied, "and there is…that money doesn't belong to him…"

Thanking the cheerful bank clerk, the man then turned to face the heroes. "Allow me to introduce myself," he said with a slight bow. "I am Hypnosis…"

"I do not like the sound of that," Cyborg said to the others.

"Now," the villain said, looking at all of them, "which of you shall be first?"

Reaching into his belt, Robin pulled out one of his exploding discs, hurling it at the man. With a smirk, the pendant around his neck began to glow, and the disc stopped and hovered in the air for a while before it was thrown back at Robin.

Gasping, the leader yelled, "Get down!" The five jumped out of the way as the disc hit the wall behind them, exploding on contact.

As she hovered in the air, Starfire sent her green starbolts at the man. The jewel began to glow again, creating a shield around him.

Surprised, Cyborg transformed his arm into a blaster, firing at Hypnosis, creating a lot of smoke.

Suddenly, from within the smoke, Hypnosis jumped out, firing a blast similar to Cyborg's at both the teen machine and Starfire, his pendant glowing all the while.

"Azarath, metrion, zinthos!" Raven chanted, and soon black energy surrounded the debris from the explosion created earlier, hurling it at the villain.

The ruby jewel began to glow again, and suddenly both he and Raven disappeared, only to reappear a second later. This time, however, Hypnosis was standing where Raven used to be, and she hovered in the air where he once was. Surprised, she didn't have time to stop the debris from hitting her.

"It's that pendant of his," Robin said, watching the man. "We have to get it off somehow…"

"I'm on it!" Beastboy said, transforming into a hawk. Quickly he flew towards Hypnosis and attempted to grab the jewel. He succeeded in grabbing it in his talons, but as soon as he touched it, it began to glow, and energy shot out at him.

As he flew back, Beastboy rammed into Raven, and the two were slammed into a wall.

Reaching into his belt again, Robin pulled out his staff. As soon as it extended, he charged at Hypnosis.

Pendant glower, a red staff suddenly appeared in the villain's hand just in time to defend himself from Robin's attack.

Growling, the leader swung his pole around, trying to hit someplace else, but the elder simply blocked him there as well.

No matter where Robin tried to hit, Hypnosis was always able to block him. Finally, he attempted to trip the man, swiping his bow to knock him off his feet. But Hypnosis jumped, swinging his pole and connecting it with Robin's side. As soon as he hit, a red energy shot out, causing Robin to exclaim in pain as he flew, connecting with the wall.

Hearing the cry, Starfire looked up and saw Hypnosis heading towards Robin, bow in hand. "Robin!" she yelled as she flew straight for the man.

Picking the boy up with the end of his pole, Hypnosis hurled him at Starfire.

Taken aback, the Tamaranian stopped, catching the other as he flew at her. Gently placing him down, she then glared at the man, her eyes beginning to glow green before she charged at him.

Smirking, the man just closed his eyes, and the pendant began to glow a bright red. Soon, a similar color surrounded Starfire, and she froze in midair, just centimeters away from Hypnosis.

"What…have you done…to me…?" she demanded, trying to move but finding she couldn't.

Not answering the alien's question, he began walking around her, his eyes studying her. Standing back in front of her, he said, "I suppose you'll do."

"Do…for what…?"

Carefully, he removed the pendant around his neck, holding it up to the girl.

Curious more than anything, Starfire looked at the jewel. It began to glow in her eyes, as though drawing her in.

The aura around her disappeared, and she landed on her feet. Yet she didn't move, and instead stared at the jewel, her eyes becoming as red as the glow that enthralled her.

Nearby, Robin groaned, shaking his head as he tried to clear his mind. The jolt of energy had stunned him. Getting to his feet, he looked over to where Hypnosis was, and his eyes widened as he saw Starfire collapse in the villain's arms.

"Starfire!" he cried, running towards them.

Securing the pendant around his neck again, Hypnosis carried the unconscious girl in his arms, looking over as Robin made his way towards them. Just as he was about to reach them, the pendant began to glow again, and Hypnosis was gone, taking Starfire with him.

Robin skidded to a stop, his eyes wandering as he looked for the villain or Starfire. Seeing no sigh of either of them, he felt his heart wrench painfully.

"Starfire!"

_TBC_

_

* * *

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Thanks for reading this! Please review! 


	4. Chapter 3

I apologize for the fact that it's been over two years since I updated this story. I didn't mean for that to happen, but I somehow lost inspiration for this story. Don't feel too bad, though, because I seemed to have lost inspiration for a lot of my stories.

I really have no control over my writings, really. I write when I'm inspired to, and I can't write without it. If I try, the writing itself suffers greatly. But because of that, a story could go for a long time without seeing another chapter because I lack the inspiration to write for it.

Luckily, I was able to regain some inspiration for this story, thanks to the first ever _Teen Titans_ movie: _Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo_. It was such an awesome movie! It hasn't premiered anywhere yet but the San Diego Comic Con International, and I was lucky enough to see it there. And thanks to that, I really wanted to write the next chapter for this story...And here it is!

While the movie was awesome, it won't be included in any way in this story. I've decided that this story will take place after the end of the last season. So yeah. Anyway, on with the story! Tadah!

* * *

_There was nothing but darkness all around her, as far as she could see. Shivering a little, she wrapped her arms around her body in a desperate attempt to keep warm. But the chill cut through her sharply, settling on her skin and sinking deep into her heart. The pain coursed through her veins, and she shut her eyes tightly and fell to her knees as a soft cry was ripped from her throat._

_Something was wrong. This entire thing was very wrong, she could feel it. She wasn't supposed to be this alone._

_Her friends…Where were her friends?_

_She felt a precious name on the tip of her tongue, but try as she might she was unable to speak the one thing that would ever bring her the comfort she desperately needed. Without the echo of the name ringing in her ears, the strength from imagining her beloved friend remained dormant within her mind…and her soul. Without that force to assist her, she was left to endure the pain that continuously pressed upon her, suffocating her and leaving her body trembling._

_What made the hurt even more unbearable was the feeling of absolute emptiness that tore away at her heart with every passing second. Tears filled her eyes as she continued to quiver. Why was she forced to suffer this way? What had she done to deserve such punishment?_

_Her hand flew up to her mouth as she suddenly coughed violently, causing the tears under her eyes to cascade down her cheeks. Her throat was parched and dry, cracking with a burning heat while coughs continued to rack her weakened frame. She felt as though something had shattered deep within. She could take no more of this torture._

_Suddenly, she sensed a strange warmth above her. Slowly her eyes opened as she looked up, watching a small orb of crimson light form over her head. Even from her kneeling position on the floor, she felt the wonderful heat from the glow that beckoned to her. The comforting feeling was shallow at best – only warming the skin on her face – but it was enough for her to want more of it. In that one, quick instance she began to desire that essential heat, crave its feeling and anticipating the effect it would have over her entire body and soul. She knew that she needed it. If only she could get to it…_

_Carefully she stood on shaking legs, biting her tongue to stifle the cry of pain threatening to erupt. She breathed heavily, using every ounce of her remaining power just to stay on her feet without falling to the floor again. But even as she stood to her full height, it wasn't enough to reach the inviting radiance that held the relief she yearned for._

_Somehow, she knew that she was too heavy to reach the crimson orb of light. Something was weighing her down, and unless she removed the excess load she would never be able to reach the wondrous illumination._

_Sighing softly, she closed her eyes and held out her hands. The burden was somewhere inside her, and if she could find it then she would be able to reach the orb above her. As she concentrated, she felt an odd sensation sweep over her body, as though something was being drained away from her. When it had passed, she opened her eyes again to see a large golden orb resting in her hands._

_She stared at the sphere that she held, blinking a little. Even if this was the object that was preventing her from reaching the comforting source above her, she couldn't help but feel somewhat sad to give it up. It seemed important to her somehow, and she was tempted to keep it despite the pain it would continue to bring her._

_But before she could pull the golden light back inside of her, the orb left her hands and began to float up towards the crimson orb above. Following it up, she watched as the energy from her body was pulled into the blood-red sphere and absorbed, causing the red light to shine even brighter. She gasped softly as she then began to ascend into the air as well. She had no control over herself as she was drawn into the shining glow._

_The crimson light engulfed her, and she closed her eyes as the gentle warmth enveloped her and flowed inside her, sending away all the pain she had felt and filling all the empty holes within her._

_Yet even as she enjoyed the heat that she had craved for so badly, she couldn't help but feel that something was _wrong_ somehow…_

* * *

Slowly her eyes fluttered open, wincing a little bit as a bright light shone down upon her. Using her hand to shield her from the radiance, she slowly sat up and gazed at the space that surrounded her. She found herself sitting on a narrow, thin bed, covered with cream-colored sheets and a single pillow that rested at the top. The bed was centered in the middle of the small room. The walls were coated with a dull peach color that appeared to be cracked and peeling, indicating that the place was rather old and in need of repairs.

She jumped slightly when a low creak echoed around the room. Turning slightly, she watched as a door slowly opened and groaned on its hinges. Soon, the door was pushed away to reveal a man carrying a tray in his hands. As he entered the room, his auburn-haired head just barely brushed against the top frame of the tall entrance. His body was hidden beneath a thick shimmering silver mantle, tied in the front with a golden sash. The ends of his long robe trailed along the ground as he walked.

What caught her eye the most though was the crimson pendant that hung from his neck. It caught the light and reflected crimson patterns that danced against the pale walls as the man came closer to the bed.

"It's good to see that you're awake, my dear," the man said softly. "I was beginning to wonder when you'd be getting up."

She looked up at the man, tilting her head to the side slightly. "Have…we met before?" she asked.

Confusion ran through the man's cerulean eyes briefly until it was replaced with understanding. "Oh, of course you don't remember. You had knocked your head pretty hard some time ago."

She frowned a little. "I did?"

"Yes you did." Placing the tray on her lap, he cleared his throat a little and pointed to himself. "My name is Hypnosis. I've been taking care of you since you arrived on Earth."

Dropping the silver utensil she had been fiddling with, she turned to look at him again in surprise. "What…did you say?"

"Well, you came to Earth one day from outer space…"

She tilted her head to the side again. "Really?"

"Yes. Though you never did tell me where you were from."

"Oh…" she replied, unsure of what else to say.

Hypnosis watched her for a moment. "Do you remember?"

"No," she replied quickly, playing with the utensil once again.

"So you don't recall that your name is Nebula?"

She shook her head a little as she placed the utensil down and began playing with strands of her crimson hair. For some strange reason, she wasn't very fond of her name. It just didn't really seem to suit her very well. Replaying the name in her mind, she couldn't help but feel that it was strange to regard herself as…Nebula.

But what could she do about it? She had no other name to go by.

Looking up at the man again, she asked softly, "What has happened to me? Why is it that I do not remember myself?"

Hypnosis sighed softly and ran his fingers through his golden-brown hair. "You had gotten a fever recently and became quite delirious. One day, you wanted to go for a walk and tripped down the stairs."

She was a little startled when the man reached out and brushed away crimson bangs from her eyes. "I was a little worried," he said gently. "You banged your head pretty hard…I wasn't sure when you'd wake up again."

Rubbing the back of her head, she frowned a little. She felt no pain at all, and seemed completely fine. If she had hit her head as hard as he claimed, wouldn't it still be hurting even now? Even just a little bit? She glanced up at the man curiously. Something about him just didn't…feel right to her. She felt strange as she looked at him, but she couldn't begin to explain to herself why. This man had taken care of her, hadn't he? After all, that was what he had said. She should have been more grateful to him for his hospitality and his patience now that she had somehow forgotten.

And above all, he had been concerned about her. She didn't want him to continue to fret over her. Smiling a little, she said, "Well, I am fine for now. And perhaps soon my memories will return."

Returning the smile, Hypnosis nodded a little. "I suppose you're right." Motioning to the tray on her lap, he added, "You should have something to eat now. It's been a while since your last meal."

"All right," she replied softly, taking the utensils in her hands. "Thank you."

Hypnosis watched her as she began to eat. He then reached up to carefully finger the scarlet pendant that hung from his neck, and a small smirk appeared on his lips.

* * *

The first thing that Robin awoke to was the enticing aroma of food that caused his empty stomach to stir and demand attention. Opening his eyes, he slowly lifted his head from its resting place on his arms to stare at the tray that had been placed on his desk. Steam rose from the hamburger that lay on the plate, spreading its tempting scent into the room. On one edge of the tray stood a glass of what appeared to be lemonade, and he could see the droplets of condensation beginning to form on the sides.

But what really caught his attention was the bottle of ketchup on the other side of the tray. In normal cases he wouldn't have really cared too much, except that he usually had ketchup _and _mustard on his burger. However…he suspected that his friends purposely withheld the latter in a – vain – attempt to keep his mind off of things…off of _her_.

He took the sudden lurch in his stomach to mean that he was no longer hungry.

Pushing the tray father away from his sight, he then grabbed his yellow communicator and held it tightly in his hand. He stared hard at the object, wishing for it to ring with the sound of her voice, letting him know that she was alive at least, telling him that she was okay. But as his heart pounded painfully in his chest…he couldn't help but feel that something bad has already happened to her.

Clenching his fingers around his communicator, he had a difficult time resisting the urge to throw it across his room as hard as he could. Doing so wouldn't help the situation at all, and if he broke the device then he could miss the call he had been waiting for all this time. But the frustration he felt soared within him, and it seemed that he was very close to losing all control over his body.

It was his own fault, though. After all…he should have been able to protect her.

That's why he had spent the past few hours desperately trying to find her or contact her…trying to reach her somehow. He had searched most of the city on his own, had the others search parts of the city as well, attempted to contact her communicator countless amounts of times, tried to determine her location _by_ her communicator, and even asked Raven to try to connect to her mind as a last resort. Unfortunately, everything ended up in failure, and he was no closer to finding her than when he had first lost her.

But he was far from giving up. He was determined to do everything he could in order to find her and bring her back safely. He wasn't going to stop until she was home.

At least that's what he had aimed to do. However, the others hadn't agreed with his plans at all. Worried though they were about their missing friend, they had disapproved of his continuous search for her. They had asked him to take a small rest – pleaded with him, even. And when he had refused, they proceeded to secure him in his room.

He had hated them momentarily for locking him up that way. But after reflecting on the matter, he understood why they had done so to begin with. He had even managed to fall asleep for a short time, and he was a little grateful to them for that. Still, even that wasn't able to relieve him from the worry that tightly held his heart.

With a soft sigh, he placed his communicator back on his desk before running his fingers through his thick ebony hair. No matter how hard he struggled to clear his mind in order to think, he found that he just couldn't. Then again, it was always difficult for him to think correctly…whenever _she _came to mind.

The night when she had first arrived on Earth was when she had forever changed his world. He had been so set on making it on his own then…To live his own life, to make his own decisions, to accomplish his own dreams…to do all of those things by himself. He never could have predicted – or imagined – that one girl from outer space would end up disrupting all his calculated plans and ideas…that this one girl would push him into the company of others, or that he would come to form near-unbreakable bonds that would help pull him out of the worst situations. He never would have thought that he would come to…depend on these people so much.

The only thing he had been really concerned with that night…was helping this one girl from outer space escape from the ones who pursued her. After all, he had been raised as a hero, and that was what heroes did. They helped people who needed help.

In the end, however, he found that he had enjoyed helping this strange girl from outer space. He had enjoyed it so much that, from that night onward, he had vowed that he would continue to stay by her side and help her in any way that he could. She had, after all, arrived on an unfamiliar planet to her and knew no one else. So he decided that he would be there to assist her, just in case she needed him.

He never thought that he would come to need her as well.

Just the thought of seeing her smile, her warm presence when he stood next to her, the cheerful curiosity as she slowly learned the ways of her new home planet…made him feel something he had never felt before in his life. Being with her, seeing her close by, listening to her voice…Everything about her left him feeling so…different. He wasn't sure how else to describe how her very existence touched something deep within him, breaking through the person he thought he was and slowly revealing who he _could _be. When he was with her, he could feel himself changing into someone different.

It was a very unfamiliar sensation to him, and in all honestly, it alarmed him. He would never admit it aloud, but he was truly frightened by the entire situation. The very notion that this one girl could alter him in ways he still couldn't fully understand…that she was able to show him what he could achieve, things that he never thought he could before…that ultimately his life was really, truly dependent on this girl…was something that sincerely scared him.

He had tried to ignore it. He had tried to deny that it was possible, tried to deny that it was true. He had tried to pretend that he could never feel that way. But with every day that passed by, with every second that he spent with her, he knew that he could never hide the truth. Somehow, this one girl had reached deep into his soul and had given him what he had been missing in his life. He had never realized the empty holes in his heart…until the day she had arrived and filled them.

And after all of that, he wasn't even able to save her when she needed him most.

Growling softly, he roughly pressed the edge of his palm into his forehead. He couldn't think straight at all…not when she was on his mind. He wanted nothing more right now than to find her and make sure she was all right, but the intense worry and concern…and the terrible fear…for her left his mind too distracted for him to make any solid plans. Everything just seemed too hazy at the moment, and the headache that continued to build wasn't helping matters at all. He just couldn't concentrate.

As much as he hated to admit it…he really needed help.

Pushing himself away from his desk, he slowly got to his feet. Quickly glancing at his communicator, he then hooked it onto his belt before walking towards the door. It was late into the night – over 24 hours since Starfire had gone missing to begin with – so he knew that the others would be asleep. And he was glad that they were, too, because it gave him the perfect opportunity to finish the task he was about to do as quickly as possible.

Because he was having trouble concentrating on anything at the moment, Robin decided to request the help of the one who had taught him concentration in the first place.

_TBC_

I already know what I want to do for the next chapter. However, I'm not sure I'll be able to get around to writing it. If I do though...I'm really going to enjoy it (bwahahahaha). Hopefully you all will too. If you think you know what I meant by the last paragraph, I ask that you please keep it to yourself and don't put the idea into the review. I'd like to see if I can surprise at least some people.

But in any case, please review, and no flames if you can help it! Thank you!


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